How to Secure Your Gmail Account by Using Google Authenticator App

Two-factor authentication is one of the best things you can do to make sure your accounts don’t get hacked.Passwords, unfortunately, aren’t as secure as they used to be, and if someone gets your password, they can access your account without any fuss. Even having a strong password doesn’t completely protect you. Two-factor authentication solves this problem.

Google’s two-step authentication helps you restrict access to your accounts. Normally, you login to a website with your username and password. Without two-step authentication, you’re done. Access to your account relies on the strength of your username and password.

What is Two-factor Authentication ?

Two-factor authentication is a simple feature that asks for more than just your password. It requires both “something you know” (like a password) and “something you have” (like your phone). After you enter your password, you’ll get a second code sent to your phone, and only after you enter it will you get into your account. Think of it as entering a PIN number, then getting a retina scan, like you see in every spy movie ever made. It’s a lot more secure than a password (which is very hackable), and keeps unwanted snoopers out of your online accounts.

Google Authenticator app to add two-factor authentication

There are two primary ways to use two-factor authentication – text message or via an authenticator app. Most sites will send you OTPs via text message and that’s a perfectly good method of authentication. However if you go abroad or travel to a place with patchy or no network within your country, then you could be locked out of your account because the SMS will never arrive.That is why we recommend using authenticator apps such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or Authy or even some password managers such as 1Password. These apps show you OTPs even if the smartphone is in airplane mode.

Google Authenticator is quite easy to use and the following steps will show you how to use it for Gmail. The steps are similar for other authenticator apps too.